Cutting tool for strips of leather



J y 1951 J. ENGELN 2,559,291

CUTTING TOOL FOR STRIPS OF LEATHER Original Filed Dec. 5, 1945 dormENGELN INVENTOR.

Patented July 3, 1951 CUTTING TOOL FOR STRIPS F LEATHER John Engeln,Vancouver, Wash.

Substituted for abandoned application Serial No.

632,931, December 5, 1945.

This application July 11, 1947, Serial No. 761,117

1 Claim. 1

This application is a substitute for my application Serial No. 632,931,filed December 5, 1945, now abandoned.

This invention relates to a device for quickly and convenientlymanufacturing long strips of leather out of random sizes of scrapleather for use as boot laces and the like.

The foregoing and other objects will appear as my invention is morefully hereinafter described in the following specification, illustratedin the accompanying drawing and finally pointed out in the appendedclaim.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a plan view of a device made in accordance with myinvention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of Figure 1 with parts broken away forconvenience of illustration.

Figure 3 is a sectional end elevation taken along the line 33 of Figure2.

Figure 4 is a sectional end elevation taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a reduced plan view of a scrap piece of leather prepared forapplication to the device for being cut into strips.

Referring now more particularly to the drawmg:

Reference numeral I indicates, generally, the main body of the devicewhich consists of a frame having a top wall 2, bottom wall 3, and rearwall 4 and end walls 5 and 6. The frame just described is slidablymounted on a base I by means of a bolt 8 extending through a slot 9formed in the bottom wall 3. The frame is movable lengthwise of the baseby means of an adjusting screw Ill threadedly mounted in the end wall 5and extending through a bracket II secured to the base as shown. Thescrew I0 if formed with a winged head I2 for advancing or retarding thescrew on the threads in the end wall 5 for advancing or retarding theframe to widen or narrow the gap I3 between the end wall 6 of themovable frame and the end wall I4 of a fixed frame I5 secured to thebase I. The variable gap I3 serves as a guide for the leather beingdealt with, which will be more fully hereinafter described. Within thefixed frame I5 I mount by means of a bolt I6 a vertically adjustablecutting blade H which extends through horizontal slots I8 in the endWall 6 of the frame I. The blade is vertically adjustable into thevarious notches for cutting leather into strips of various predeterminedwidths. Secured in a vertical position to the blade I! is a flange I9 tocomplete one wall of the gap I3 when the blade is in a closed positionas shown. Embracing the free end of the blade I! is an eye bolt 20provided with a winged nut 2I and movable vertically in a slot 22 formedin the rear wall 4 of the frame I. The purpose of the eye bolt is tohold the blade within the frame during the cutting operation. Thisfeature is preferably used when the device is set up for the continuousmanufacture of leather strips of any particular size, but may bedispensed with when only a few strips are to be made. For the latterpurpose and for convenience in holding the plate in the cutting positionI form a thumb rest 23.

In preparing a piece of leather to be dealt with by the device, I firstcut out an opening as indicated at 24 of sufficient diameter to enablethe leather to be passed over the end of the device and into a positionwhere a short strip 25 formed tangentially of the opening may beinserted through the gap I3 formed by the walls 6 and I4 and passedunder the cutting blade II. The strip 25 should be of sufficient lengthto be firmly gripped by the fingers of the operator. Following this, theblade is held in the cutting position either by the eye bolt 20 or thumbrest 23 as aforesaid, and as the strip 25 is pulled outwardly and iscontinued to be pulled, the blade will slice the leather in a uniformwidth in progressively widening circles around the original opening 24to produce a long continuous strip of leather of uniform width asdetermined by the setting of the cutting blade in relation to the bottomwall of the frame. As the strip 25 is pulled, the piece of leather fromwhich the strips are cut is rotated around the frame through the gap I3,and as previously stated the width of the gap is variable by the screwII] to accommodate leather of various thicknesses.

While I have shown a particular form of embodiment of my invention, I amaware that many minor changes therein will readily suggest themselves toothers skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire toprotect by Letters Patent is:

A device for cutting leather into strips comprising in combination anelongated base, an elongated box-like frame having a top wall, bottomwall, rear wall and end walls, an adjusting screw carried by the baseand extending through one of said end Walls of the frame for moving theframe lengthwise of the base, the other of said end walls being formedwith a plurality of spaced-apart horizontal slots, a second frameseassemcured to said base in axial alignment with the first mentionedframe and having a top wall, bottom wall, rear wall and an end wall,said end wall of said second frame being adjacent to said end wall ofsaid first frame having slots formed therein, said end walls beingvariably spacedapart to receive the material to be cut, a threadedvertical shaft extending through said second frame, a horizontallydisposed cutting blade pivotally mounted on said shaft and adapted to beraised and lowered thereby for selective engagement with the slots insaid other end wall of said first mentioned frame, a vertical flangecarried by said blade and disposed between the variable spaced-apartadjacent ends of said frames to complete the end wall of the secondframe,

4 means adjustably extending through said rear wall of the firstmentioned frame and embracing said cutting blade for maintaining theblade within any one of the said slots in the end wall of said firstmentioned frame.

JOHN ENGELN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

-UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,315,128 Jacquot Sept. 2, 19192,121,681 Bassett June 21, 1938 2,411,927 'Luke Dec. 3, 1946

